Trading up: Rochestown, Cork, €295,000

You could keep dogs or hens, free-range children, or even perhaps build another house/develop a site, to the side of this three-bed semi-d at 11, Manor Lawn.

Set at the end of a row of semis in the McInerney developments Thornbury, this is a family home in good overall condition, says its selling agent Michael O’Donovan of Savills; he says it is surprisingly accommodating for its 1,100 sq ft, with rear reception separate to a long, side-set galley kitchen.

But the real space booster is the corner/end site in this cul de sac section; there’s space for a new, detached build, he hints, and instances a similar house and garden across the road where just that very thing was ventured and delivered, with a deep and slender new-build slotted in.

Even if a whole new home isn’t to be put here, there’s other/extension potential, adds Mr O’Donovan, guiding at €295,000 and saying the gardens are private right now, thanks to tall hedges.

Most of the ground floor rooms have solid oak floors, there’s a modern kitchen, utility and guest WC, and three upstairs bedrooms (no ensuite), plus a family bathroom.

VERDICT: Side site size sets sights on something extra.